Parliament Square was invaded by a purple army of 1950s-born women asking for help after they were given short or no notice about a change to their pension age.

More than 50 women from Norfolk joined around 3,000 women from across the country for the protest organised by the Waspi movement.

Many were not told when the government changed their pension age to 65 to match the pension age of men in 1995, and it was then accelerated in 2011.

Debbie de Spon, one of the organisers of the Norfolk delegation, said the campaigners had been urged not to give up by speakers.

She said women had come from all four corners for the good humoured and good natured protest.

The women from Norfolk also brought about 50 cards with the names of women who could not join them for a variety of reasons, including work, caring or illness.

She said: 'We are not a generation of women who have protested. We are women who have done what was expected of us. We had a family or worked or had a family and work. We paid up to 45 years of national insurance and 18 months before we retired they said 'you are gong to wait six more years'.

The women agree with the equalisation of the pension age, but they believe they were not informed or given adequate time to prepare for the change.

Charlotte Forbes-Robertson, from Bircham Newton, was one of a group of women from North-West Norfolk to meet MP Sir Henry Bellingham.

She said they had not bee able to plan for an affordable retirement because of the change and they were asking for transitional payments.